Netherfield Ball – Barkha Dutt’s Book Reception, The Taj Mahal Hotel

It was an exceedingly posh party. The capital’s cold toxic air smelled of expensive perfumes. Almost every important person was there except for the Prime Minister. He was not missed.

One evening The Delhi Walla attended the launch of news anchor Barkha Dutt’s book, This Unquiet Land: Stories From India’s Fault Lines, at The Terrace Garden in The Taj Mahal Hotel. It was a rare public gathering of some of the country’s most influential politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, authors and artists.

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah sat on the front row beside jurist Soli Sorabjee. Mr Abdullah’s son, Omar, also a former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, was in one of the back rows. Dressed in a dark grey suit, he was seated with news anchor Nidhi Razdan. They were very chatty with each other but suddenly grew quiet on being approached by a paparazzo.

Seasoned politician Digvijay Singh arrived minus his wife, Amrita Rai, a television journalist whom he married early this year.

Novelist Vikram Seth sat with mummy Leila, retired Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh. Immediately behind them was seated author Aatish Taseer, who behaved like a sort of elegant creature that one could not keep one’s eye from. Mr Taseer was with mummy Tavleen Singh, a very, very famous columnist. The mother and son arrived separately but left together.

Ms Singh’s archenemy, the glum-looking Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former cabinet minister, was seated on the same row. Just three people separated them. It did not help that Mr Aiyar’s immediate companion was author Gurcharan Das. Since Mr Aiyar is an elite English-speaking socialist and Mr Das is an elite English-speaking capitalist, they had nothing in common with each other. So, they did not exchange a single word.

The star attraction was perhaps Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Common Men Party. He arrived with his deputy, Manish Sisodia. It is rumoured that the duo is always seen together. Here, too, they were seated next to each other. As always, Mr Kejriwal coughed his way through the evening.

Also spotted: publisher Chiki Sarkar, who sat alone; publisher Diya Kar Hazra, who was with husband, journalist Indrajit; Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who came without his wife, the lovely Sara; craft revivalist Laila Tyabji, who is believed to have a great collection of handloom saris; Common Men Party leader Ashutosh, an anti-corruption crusader, who was seen in deep conversation with Rajeev Shukla, the chairman of Indian Premier League and one of the most important persons in Indian cricket. There was also actor Shabana Azmi, with a flower in her bun; she was with husband, poet Javed Akhtar.

There were no radical outfits to be seen though quite a few women were draped in beautiful shawls. But Chief Minister Kejriwal, the political face of Delhi, was wearing socks with… sandals! That was the evening’s only scandal.

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5 Responses

JASBIR CHATTERJEE · December 10, 2015 at 13:19:13 · →

thanks for this update. I loved your breezy, gossipy style peppered with all those naughty adjectives. Kejriwal with his coughing fits and dressing scandals looks all the more lovable. What is the book all about? Do share that as well.

anand pandey · December 10, 2015 at 13:30:06 · →

Jai ho!

Devyani · December 10, 2015 at 20:54:38 · →

Such a silly gossip style reporting..in between the famous names with a bit too generous garnishing of unnecessary adjectives you write a piece like this. …insinuating things about people.. and also downright lowly, pointing out what the Chief Minister chose to wear…So what ..he will wear what he feels like…you don’t like it..so be it..look the other way..

and pray what was the gathering all about….?? No mention of that…you sound like a rosy eyed , nosy gossipy cat who likes to see things at the face value ..more than anything else…Spare us this kind of reporting…

JASBIR CHATTERJEE · December 12, 2015 at 16:37:06 · →

Devyani Mam, with due respects, I would like to mention that the standard ‘in-depth reporting’ is already being done by the TV and all the well-known newspapers; we don’t want to read the same stuff again when we visit this blog.

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Since 2007, Mayank Austen Soofi has been collecting hundreds of stories taking place in Delhi, through writing and photography, for his acclaimed website The Delhi Walla. Every day, Mayank walks around the city with his camera and notebook to track down the part of extraordinary that exists in the seemingly mundane aspects of urban lives. By exploring and documenting the streets, buildings, houses, cuisines, traditions and people of Delhi, his work is also an attempt to give the megalopolis an intimate voice, and to capture the passing of time in this otherwise restlessly changing city.